Global Health

Global Health

Facilitator: Sonja Mackenzie, Public Health

This Pathway will explore human health and the biological, environmental, psychological, and social factors that impact it, with particular attention to global issues, such as infectious disease, chronic disease, healthcare, mental health, pollution and environmental degradation, agriculture and nutrition, and poverty and social inequalities that affect human well-being. All courses included in this Pathway will include discussion of the social context of health issues, and issues germane to resource-poor regions of the world.

Why have we chosen this focus? Because good health is fundamental to human well-being, a basic understanding of the human body and what we can do to maintain its proper functioning is a perfectly reasonable part of a holistic liberal education. But in the complex world we live in, the study of human health encompasses far more than simply the normal functioning of our bodies. Indeed, most of humanity enjoys nothing like the excellent health that citizens of wealthy nations often take for granted.

Courses addressing the broad topic of global health necessarily include issues of social justice. Many global public health problems are inextricably linked to poverty and marginalization, which aren't unique to the developing world. Indeed, people at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder in the U.S. have the highest rates of AIDS and tuberculosis, cancer, obesity, asthma, and psychological stress, and the least access to quality medical care. How a wealthy country like the U.S. deals with such gross inequality raises fundamental questions of fairness and justice. These are issues Santa Clara students should be grappling with during the course of their education!

Associated Courses

Anthropology
ANTH         133         Human Nutrition and Culture (effective 9/1/09)
ANTH         134         Health, Disease and Culture (effective 9/1/09)
ANTH         135         Human Development and Sexuality (cross-listed with PHSC 135; effective 9/1/09)
ANTH         137         Evolutionary Medicine (effective 9/1/09)
ANTH         140         Food, Culture, and the Environment (cross-listed with ENVS 136; effective 9/1/09)

Biology
BIOL          2             Human Health and Disease (effective 9/1/09)
BIOL          5             Endangered Ecosystems L&L (effective 9/1/09)
BIOL          28           Human Sexuality (discontinued spring 2012 see PHSC 28; effective 9/1/09)
*BIOL        106          Health Consequences of a Western Lifestyle (cross-listed with PHSC 124; effective 9/1/09)
*BIOL        111          Parasitology (effective 9/1/09)
*BIOL        113          Microbiology L&L (effective 9/1/09)
*BIOL        116          Medical Microbiology (effective 9/1/09)
*BIOL        127          Drugs & Toxins in Human Biology (discontinued Spring 2012)
*BIOL        131          Agroecology L & L (cross-listed with ENVS 132; effective 9/1/09)
*BIOL        145           Virology (effective 9/1/09)
*BIOL        159           Plagues in the Age of Insects (effective 9/1/09)
*BIOL        171           Social & Ethical Dimensions of Biotechnology (effective 9/1/09)
*BIOL        179           Cancer Biology (effective 9/1/09)

Chemistry
CHEM         1              Chemistry & the Environment (effective 9/1/09)

Communication
*COMM       113          Biology of Human Communication (effective 9/1/09)
*COMM       124          Health Communication

Economics
ECON          101           Resources, Food, and the Environment (cross-listed with MGMT 173; effective 9/1/09)
*ECON        135           Gender Issues in the Developing World (cross-listed with WGST 121; effective 9/1/09)
*ECON        160            The Economics of Poverty and Inequality (effective 9/1/09)

English
*ENGL         108            Writing in STEM (effective 9/1/09)

Environmental Studies & Sciences
ENVS           21              Introduction to Applied Ecology L&L (effective 9/1/09)
*ENVS         132            Agroecology L & L (cross-listed with BIOL 131; effective 9/1/09)
ENVS           136            Food, Culture and the Environment (cross-listed with ANTH 140; effective 9/1/09)
ENVS           146            Agriculture, Environment, and Development: Latin America (effective 9/1/09)
ENVS           147            International Environment and Development (effective 9/1/09)
ENVS           149            African Environment & Development (effective 1/1/22)
ENVS           155            Environmental & Food Justice (effective 9/1/09)

Ethnic Studies
ETHN           156            Environmental Racism, Gender, & Justice (cross-listed with WGST 113; effective 9/1/09)

History
HIST            106            You Are What You Eat: The History of Foods, Drugs, and Medicine (effective 9/1/09)
HIST            123            History of Plagues, Epidemics, and Infections (effective 9/1/09)

Management
MGMT           173            Resources, Food & the Environment (cross-listed with ECON 101; effective 9/1/09)

Modern Languages
*SPAN          24              Spanish & Community Health (effective 1/1/17) 

Psychology
*PSYC          117            Health Psychology (effective 9/1/09)
*PSYC          117EL         Health Psychology ELSJ (effective 9/1/09)

Public Health
PHSC            1               Human Health and Disease (effective 9/1/09)
PHSC            11             Women's Health (effective 9/1/09)
PHSC            28             Human Sexuality (cross-listed with WGST 33; effective 9/1/09)
PHSC            31             Community Health (effective 9/1/09)
*PHSC          103            Advanced Global Health (effective 1/1/17) 
*PHSC          124            Health Consequences of Western Lifestyles (cross-listed with BIOL 106; effective 9/1/09)
PHSC            131            Community Health (effective 9/1/15)
PHSC            134            Public Health Law & Policy (effective 3/25/24)
PHSC            135            Human Development & Sexuality (cross-listed with ANTH 135; effective 9/1/09)
PHSC            142            Environment & Health (effective 9/1/09)
PHSC            170            Health Care and Public Health in El Salvador (effective 06/15/17) 
PHSC            172            Management of Health Care Organizations (cross-listed as SOCI 172; effective 9/1/09)
PHSC            190            Public Health Capstone (9/1/09)

Religious Studies
*RSOC          114             Religion and Medicine in Healthcare (effective 1/1/19)
*RSOC          170             Religion, Gender & Globalization (cross-listed with WGST 146; effective 9/1/09)
*RSOC          170R           RSS: Religion, Gender & Globalization (cross-listed with WGST 146; effective 1/25/2017)
*TESP           46               Faith, Justice, & Poverty (effective 9/1/09)
*TESP           46H             Faith, Justice, & Poverty: Honors (effective 11/25/2015)
*TESP           46EL            Faith, Justice & Poverty EL (effective 9/1/09)
*TESP           62               Medical Ethics in Christian Perspective (discontinued Spring 2012)
*TESP           156             Christian Ethics and HIV/AIDS (effective 9/1/09)
*TESP           170             The Church and Homosexuality (effective 2/27/2013)
*TESP           173             Religion, Science, and the Natural World

Sociology
SOCI             134            Globalization and Inequality (effective 1/1/2016)
SOCI             138             Populations of India, China & the U.S. (effective 9/1/09)
SOCI             172             Management of Health Care Organizations (cross-listed with PHSC 172; effective 9/1/09)

Gender and Sexuality Studies (GSS)
WGST            32               Women's Health (cross-listed with PHSC 11; effective 1/1/2017)
WGST            33               Human Sexuality (cross-listed with PHSC 28; effective 9/1/09)
WGST            113             Environmental Racism, Gender, & Justice (cross-listed with ETHN 156; effective 9/1/09)
*WGST          116              Race, Gender and Public Health in the News (effective 9/1/09)
*WGST          121              Gender Issues in the Developing World (cross-listed with ECON 135; effective 9/1/09)
*WGST          146              Religion, Gender & Globalization (cross-listed with RSOC 170; effective 9/1/09)

* Indicates Course Has Prerequisites